Songoftheday 9/14/17 - I hit the road out of nowhere I had to jump in my car, and be a rider in a love game following the stars...

"Joyride" - Roxette
from the album Joyride (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's song of the day comes from the Swedish pop duo Roxette, who had broke big in America with their second album Look Sharp!, and landed two #1 hits from the record in 1989, "The Look" and "Listen To Your Heart". They added a third with their contribution to the soundtrack of Pretty Woman, "It Must Have Been Love", in the summer of 1990. In the beginning of the following year, Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson released their third album Joyride with the title track as the lead single. Written by Gessle and again produced by long-time back-up musician Clarence Öfwerman, the bouncy guitar-dominated track was a fun way to enter the new decade, and in return they got another worldwide hit...

"Joyride" became Roxette's fourth (and so far last) #1 pop hit in the U.S. in May of 1991. The single also crossed over to Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart at #21. Internationally, the song was huge, topping the charts in Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Norway, and Finland. It also got to #4 in the UK and Italy, and #3 in New Zealand.

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Here's the pair touring behind the album down in Australia...

Per and Marie stripped down the song for their MTV Unplugged appearance in 1993...

And finally, an awesome performance with an orchestra at "A Night At The Proms" in the Netherlands in 2009...

Up tomorrow: A pair of power-pop vets predate their Friend-ship with a little more laissez-faire.